Slumming
by BambiRosie
Summary: Blair and Dan never went to get the ice. Blair's reaction to Chuck finding out about his mother. Based upon 5x20
1. Chapter 1

**Blair and Dan never went to get the ice. Blair's reaction to Chuck finding out about Diana.**

"Yes, as I was saying to Dan here earlier today, his works show a certain amount of irony when you look at his personal life." Blair went on to the brunette girl clad in those clothes you got from second hand trendy boutiques in downtown Williamsburg.

"But you could also say that the way he ended his life was the biggest parallel to the end of the novel as well." The woman pointed out, holding the mug stamped with the union jack that Blair and Dan had distributed to the guests on their arrival.

Meanwhile, Dan was having a conversation to a man next to her. He had a hipster type haircut and was wearing a wrinkled suit that he probably thought was making some sort of statement.

She couldn't help feeling a little relieved that Serena and her social climbing cousin had turned up to the party to lighten the atmosphere a bit. All these pretentious intellectuals were doing her head in, and right now she just needed to talk to someone who wasn't going to patronise her because she hadn't read all of the great twelve magic realism novels of the nineteenth century.

As Dan continued his conversation she couldn't help but let her attention wane a little. She glanced over to the huge union jack table that Dan and moved into the centre of the loft, where Nate, Chuck and several of the 'pseudo intellectuals' were now seated. Nate was sipping on the red wine Blair had served earlier and Chuck was laughing at something he had said. She felt her heart aflutter as she saw the smile she loved so much but rarely got to see cross his features. Serena, Diana and Lola were nowhere to be seen.

Blair smiled at the right moments when the man Dan was talking to cracked a lame joke, and she laughed disheartedly when the group of girls sitting on the leather couches in the corner made comments on how much they hated American culture and wanted to go and live in Soho.

She felt her cellphone in the pocket of her dress buzz, announcing an incoming message, but she ignored it, trying to regain her focus on what the hipster man was saying. He kept rambling on about his dislike for Edgar Allen Po, although Blair noticed the air turn icy, and the whole left side of the room go early silent. She turned her head slightly to see what was going on, when she saw they all had their phones out, and were watching something.

_Just another stupid gossip girl blast.._ she thought, rolling her eyes and looking over at the corner of the room where Dan's bedroom was. Serena and Diana Payne had just walked out of it, treading with an aura of cautiousness.

Blair turned back to Dan and his writer friend just in time to hear it. "Is it true?"

She spun back around quickly, looking for Chuck to see what was going on.

Chuck was slightly raised from the table, looking up at Diana Payne with an expression Blair had never seen on his face before. He looked angry, scared, but most of all wary.

Blair was no longer listening to the conversation with Dan. She was now craning her neck to the side in order to hear what was going on on the left side of the apartment.

Diana took a step closer to the table, looking at Chuck. "Yes Charles, it is." she no longer had the playful accent she usually sported. She too, was looking worried.

"DON'T" Chuck suddenly sad loudly, raising a finger at her, as if warning her to keep away. He was still staring at her with disbelief. "Don't you move, you stay right there." he whispered. Blair looked around, confused as to what had caused this scene.

Not many of the pseudo intellectuals had noticed the incident going on in the corner, but Blair was all ears. She had never heard Chuck talk to anyone like this.

"You have been in New York for months, inviting me to parties, hiring my friends, hanging out in my apartment in your underwear banging my best friend!" he was shouting now, but not the way he usually did. "Did it not occur to you to mention this, that you were my mother?"

The colour drained from Blair's face.

Diana was shaking her head, taking a step towards him, "Please Chuck, I can explain." The whole room was quiet now.

Chuck was standing up, shaking his head, "I can't do this right now, or ever! I can't!" He shouted, grabbing his coat and with one swift movement he was across the room and was gone, out the door.

Everyone in the room was silent for a moment, looking at Diana. But after a second the room returned to its normal atmosphere.

"Oh my god. Oh my god." Blair was chanting, her hands over her mouth. She felt like she was about to cry.

"Blair, Blair it's okay, don't worry about it. At least they're gone now." Dan told her, turning around and frowning at her, wondering why she was so upset.

"No, no.." Blair was shaking her head. Diana was leaving, her head ducked out the door, and Serena and Nate were standing at the table looking just as shocked as Blair felt. She locked eyes with them briefly before she heard a woman's cocky voice behind her.

"Well this is the most dramatic salon I've ever been to."

"Very.. un-british if you ask me. They have some issues over there. Typical upper east siders." agreed an equally cocky voice. Blair turned around eyeing them, her hands still over her mouth. She saw that they were looking over at where Chuck and Diana had been a few moments ago.

She put her hands on her hips. "Get out." she spat at them, and she could feel her eyes watering but she didn't care. "Get out of here." she suddenly had such a burning hatred for the man and woman sitting in front of her.

"Excuse me Ms Waldorf, but you did invite us here yourself." they said, reproachably, looking taken aback by Blair's instructions.

"My apologies," Dan came up behind her and grabbed her shoulders and spinning her around to face him, "Blair what's got into you, we're hosting a party here."

Blair shook her head, breathing shakily, "I have to find Chuck." This stupid salon now seemed even more pathetic than the guests she had invited as she turned and made her way towards the exit. She was just about to decent the stairs when she felt Dan grab her by the arm. "Blair why the hell are you going to find Chuck? He's a jerk, he just crashed our party and was trying to get all the attention on him and the others. They can't stand us being in the spotlight for one minute."

Blair looked at him, "Do you even know what just happened back there?" she asked angrily and incredulously.

"Yeah…" Dan shrugged nonchalantly, "Chuck found out that spectator woman was his mother, poor woman.. having him for a son-" he was interrupted when Blair slapped him hard on the side of the face.

He winced for a second, "Wha-"

"You don't have any idea about anything." Blair said slowly, her voice choked with tears. "You don't know anything about Chuck, you moron."

"Me? Moron?" Dan frowned incredulously, "Blair have you even looked at Chuck? He's terrible, he's a piece of work!"

"That piece of work, Chuck Bass, needs me." Blair said to him, looking Dan straight in the eye, jerking her arm away from him and then running down the stairs out onto the curb.

She needed to get out of the 718. She'd been slumming for far too long.

**I will try and do the next chapter as soon as possible! Please review! x**


	2. Chapter 2

Blair looked down at the screen of her phone as yet another missed call popped up on the LCD display of her blackberry.

Dan.

She rolled her eyes, pressing cancel and then dropped the phone back into her pocket, looking up at the driver of the taxi. "Can't you drive any faster? This isn't peak hour, I've got somewhere to be!"

Blair turned and watched out the window as the lights of the city blurred past her.

"I'm driving as fast as I can miss." The driver said simply, stitching into the righthand lane as they went over the brooklyn bridge.

"Well.. drive faster!" Blair shrugged, propping her elbow on the window of the car and leaning her head against her hand. She had seen Serena and Nate leave the loft before her, and she knew they must have been going to see if Chuck was okay. She wondered where Diana had gone.

With that thought her mouth went dry again. Diana. Diana was Chuck's mother.

There was a part of her that still didn't believe it. It felt like a smack in the face. All this time Chuck had been chasing Evelyn Bass's and Elizabeth Fisher's, all this time, it had been media mogul Diana Payne.

She cursed herself when she remembered how cruel she had been to him last week when he had come asking for advice. Of course he would come to her. She was the one who went through the whole process of finding Elizabeth alongside him. Why hadn't she seen this? But instead, she had become defensive, thinking that Chuck would stop at nothing to work his way back into her love life. Her non-existent love life. She didn't_ love_ Dan.

She had been too caught up in her own world. In a world that didn't even really exist, tonight had proved that. And now everything that she had ever gotten upset about in the last few weeks seemed so petty compared to this.

Poor Chuck.

The taxi eventually came to a halt outside the Empire Hotel. It's shiny lobby was ablaze with lights, and the magnificent high ceilings and columns made it seem like Manhattan's very own castle.

She threw a hundred dollar bill into the front seat where the driver was and hopped out of the car as quickly as possible, shrugging on her coat and entering the building. The lobby was smattered with a few people, those making reservations for the night or family members coming to see loved ones. She made her way to the admin desk.

"Hi, I just need to get up to Chuck's penthouse." Blair said the the nearest administrator at the entrance desk. She was hoping he would recognise her, but he didn't. "Mr Bass is not currently taking any visitors. He said not to send anyone-"

"Blair!" she turned, to see Serena looking at her from one of the lounge areas near the bar. Nate was with her and they were sitting anxiously, upright in the chairs and fiddling with their hands.

"Serena?" Blair turned away from the man at the desk and walked up to her best friend, frowning. "Where's Chuck?"

"He's-" but she was cut off when Nate broke in, shaking his head.

"Why do you want to know Blair? What, are you going to reprimand him for ruining your stupid soiree?"

"No! I would never!" Blair was shaking her head vigorously, and she felt she was about to cry again. "I just want to make sure he's okay."

Nate sighed, looking away from her and up at the grand staircase which flowed from the ground floor to first floor, and then over at the elevators. "He's up there. Talking to her."

Blair's stomach lurched. "He's.. talking to Diana?"

Serena and Nate both nodded, and Blair decided to take a seat on the lounge chair across from them.

"Nate… you didn't know did you? About her being Chuck's mother?" Blair asked tentatively. She knew that Nate had a pretty personal relationship with her when she had been working with him and helping him start up his company. She wondered if they had slept together.

"What?" Nate was staring at her incredulously, "You think I would have been sharing a company with her, accepting her help…. sleeping with her.." he gulped, looking disgusted with himself, "If I knew that she was Chuck's mother?"

Blair knew it wasn't Nate's fault. If anything, she was angry at Diana. She wanted to make that bitch pay for everything she had done to Chuck. All the lies, the betrayal, and on top of all of that having sex with his best friend.

But what if Chuck wanted a relationship with her? What if he was able to put everything that she had done aside, because of the simple fact that she was his mother. She would never be able to do anything to Diana then, because she would never hurt Chuck like that ever again.

"I hope he's okay.." Blair said anxiously, looking worriedly over at the entrance to the elevator.

Nate sighed, "He'll be fine, he's had worse than this."

"If anything I think it'll be a relief." Serena added.

And as Blair thought about it, she guessed Serena was right. Chuck had gone through his whole life thinking he killed his mother before that Elizabeth Fisher had turned up at Bart's grave, changing everything he had ever known when she told him she was his mother. But she had been lying. And this whole time it had been Diana, a woman who had had no contact or links with Chuck his whole life up until now.

"How did you find out? How did you know?" Blair asked quietly, looking up from the floor at her two best friends faces.

"She donated the blood for him the night at the hospital." Serena murmured, and Blair froze. She had hoped to block the memory of that night out of her head forever. It was the worst night of her life when she had woken up and had Serena tell her that Chuck had lost a lot of blood and it wasn't looking good for him. _His life._ Before that night, the term 'losing him' had meant letting go, and moving on. But after that night it took on a whole new meaning. It was losing him forever. Never again hearing his smooth voice, never seeing him smile ever again.

And she had realised that it didn't matter what it took. She would love him from afar. She would watch him get over her, get married and have kids. As long as he was alive that was the only thing that mattered. She would do anything it took. She would pretend she did not want him anymore. She would watch him and look over him, because that is a queen's job. To protect her king. And he was her king.

There was a ding of the elevator on the other side of the room, and Blair, Nate and Serena's heads all shot up, as they saw Diana, exiting the elevator and looking around cautiously, coat in hand, and then leaving the building swiftly.

And as much as Blair wanted to go up to Diana and make her pay for everything she had ever done, she restrained herself. Because she was Chuck's mother. And she loved Chuck.


	3. Chapter 3

**I know I've been so so so bad I said that I would update this like a week ago but I never got around to it! I'm really sorry! I made this quite long to make up for it so I hope you like it!**

There was a second of silence that followed after they watched Diana leave the Empire lobby and hail a cab outside. Nobody quite knew what to do. Nate was the first one to stand up. He picked up his coat from the deep red leather armrest, and then looked at Serena, nodding.

"I'm going to go up and see if he's okay."

Blair stood up, and made to go with him but he turned around, motioning for her to sit back down.

"Just me." he said simply. He strode past the ceiling high columns that separated the bar and lounge from the lobby, and over to the elevators.

Blair thought about protesting, but then considered she owed Nate something. Given her past actions he wouldn't have been completely out of line if he told her to bugger off. At least he was letting her stay.

Serena smiled at Blair. The smile didn't reach her eyes but she knew Serena meant well. Things had been awkward between them ever since the night that Blair had admitted she had feelings for Dan, and Blair had tried her best to avoid Serena. Her excuse had been that she didn't want to rub the relationship in Serena's face, but the truth was that she didn't know what to say to her best friend. She felt like they didn't even know each other anymore.

There was an uncomfortable silence between them, and Blair fidgeted with the white Hemes bag she was carrying, as she constantly waiting for any sign that it was okay for her to go up and see Chuck.

"Do you think he'll want me there?" Blair whispered suddenly, not looking up from her lap but waiting for Serena's answer. She was scared that Chuck would tell her he didn't need her here. That she had hurt him too many times and he was done.

Serena signed before answering, "Of course he will." She looked up, staring off into the distance at nothing in particular. "Even though sometimes they don't deserve it, he never gives up on the people he loves."

Blair smiled sadly, trying to push away the feeling of guilt that washed over her. She saw a group of teenage girls who looked around sixteen walk into the lobby, laughing and chattering, stumbling in their sky high heels. She felt sad as she looked at them, as they reminded her of her and Serena at that age. Going to parties, bars, causing trouble. Flirting with guys. Blair had always been the one who ended the night alone but she still had fun anyway. She wasn't the kind of girl that you 'went home with'.

Serena's phone buzzed suddenly, and the girl stuck out her long slender arm, retrieving the phone and then putting it up to her ear.

"Is he okay?" she asked into the phone worriedly, obviously speaking to Nate.

She nodded, and then waited a few seconds.

"I'll… we'll be up in a second." she put the phone back in her bag, standing up. The sparkly black mini dress she was wearing clinched in all the right places, and she looked down at Blair, smiling slightly. "Nate said we should come up now."

The two girls walked over to the elevator and Blair reached out to press the up button. At the same moment Serena did as well, and Blair jerked her arm away quickly. There was an awkward pause before the chiming of the lift announced its arrival, and both girls entered it, standing on either side of the small room and giving each other coveted glances.

"Feels oddly familiar doesn't it?" Blair observed, remembering back to the time two years ago when Serena and Blair had been fighting yet again. Chuck had entrapped them in a lift, announcing over the speaker that they would not be allowed out until they made up with each other.

Serena and Blair smiled at each other, remembering the time. She couldn't quite remember what they had been fighting about. She wondered if three years from now she would look back on this time and have forgotten what she and Serena had been fighting about.

The elevator stopped suddenly, signalising that they had reached the penthouse, and the doors slid open slowly and silently, revealing the grey brick walls of the penthouse in which Chuck and Nate resided.

Serena was the first to exit the elevator, walking around the corner, and out into the large living room and kitchen space. Blair followed close after her.

She observed the situation. Nate was leaning against the tall wall-length bookshelf/TV cabinet on the right side of the room. He was drinking a glass of what looked like scotch, looking over at his best friend anxiously. He nodded a 'hey' to Serena and Blair as they walked into the room. Serena immediately went to take her place beside Nate, she too glancing at Chuck with a worried look on her face.

The dark haired man was seated on the large orange couch with his back to the entrance of the penthouse. His posture was stuff, with his back straight and gaze ahead of him. He didn't seem to even register the fact that Serena and Blair had come into the room. A glass of untouched scotch was in his hand, and that alone was enough to tell that something was definitely wrong. Chuck Bass only ever rejected a drink when he was really agitated.

"How are you doing Chuck?" Serena asked kindly, looking over at her step brother. He didn't look over at her in return. He continued to look straight forward, it was as if he hadn't even heard Serena.

Serena glanced up at Blair for a second, who still hadn't gone to join her two best friends on the other side of the room. Se continued to look at Chuck's back. Trying to decipher what it all meant.

She used to know Chuck so well. Would be able to tell what he was thinking and feeling without even words. But now, it seemed like his thoughts were running at a different frequency to hers. She was unable to tell what he was contemplating.

Nate put his glass down on the coffee table in the middle of the living room. "I say we have a match of wii tennis." he said, trying to break the ice and get Chuck to respond to something. Serena reacted enthusiastically, agreeing to get out snacks and drinks while Nate set up the TV. Nate was known for his skill on the Wii, and Blair remembered when he had first moved into Chuck's apartment that he had bugged his best friend for weeks and weeks to let him get one. Chuck had finally agreed.

Blair on the other hand, felt no interest in playing wii tennis, and instead was still staring intently at the boy with his back to her who hadn't said a word yet.

"Blair come and help me with drinks!" Serena said enthusiastically, gesturing for Blair to come and join her. The brunette girl reluctantly went over the join the blonde one, and together they poured out anything they could find in Chuck's bar into the large glass tumblers.

When they had all finally taken seats on the couch around the TV, Serena and Nate sat next to each other on the long side of the 'L' shaped lounge, and Blair next to Chuck on the short side. Chuck still hadn't said a word or moved much.

"Common man, you have to verse me first. You know I'll flog you." Nate said laughing pushing the remote towards Chuck encouragingly. Chuck cringed away from the remote, putting his glass down on the table with a bang, standing up and then walking across the room into his bedroom. Slamming the door behind him without a word.

Serena gasped, and then looked quickly at Nate. "Just leave him for a while." Nate said, staring at the door that had just been closed. "He probably just needs some time to process it all."

"Do you know what Diana said to him?" Serena asked quietly, careful not to let Chuck hear that they were talking about him.

"He hasn't said anything." Nate shook his head.

"I'm really worried about him." Serena took a sip from her glass, her too, looking over at Chuck's bedroom.

Nate nodded in agreement, "Give him some time." he said again, turning back to the television.

Blair stood up without the other two noticing, walking around the corner into the kitchen. She opened the fridge. Nothing much was in there except for a jug of milk and a box of Godiva's. On the little table overlooking the street was a newspaper, the cover of it announced the 'Finance Sector' and Blair walked over to look at the various papers Chuck had left scattered all over the table. Most were just financial statements from Bass Industries. One of them caught her eye, it was his monthly credit bill. She scanned down the list almost the various bills for the Empire and Bass industries she saw one that made her heart sink. A sum of twenty million dollars had been transferred into the Grimaldi family savings. She looked at the number. He shouldn't have done it. Nate had told last week that Chuck had been unable to finance a project at The Spectator due to money issues. At the time it had sounded absurd, Chuck Bass? Short on money? But now she saw the bill she could see why Chuck wasn't exactly throwing his money away to anything anymore. She tucked the piece of paper under the newspaper, feeling guilty and not wanting Nate or Serena to come along and see it. To see how ungrateful she was.

She could hear them in the living room laughing, hitting the imaginary balls with the remote controls and falling over each other in an attempt to get a high score. They didn't notice. She slipped around the side of the Kitchen without them seeing and into the corridor that had the two bedrooms and elevator coming off it.

Her hand trembled as she reached out for the knob of Chuck's bedroom door. She was worried about what state she would find him in. Usually when he was angry he would be annoyed if she intruded on him. But if he was really upset she knew he was secretly glad of the company.

She opened the door. Slipping into the room without a sound.

He was sitting on the edge of the made bed, his head in his hands, eyes closed. He looked like he was concentrating very hard on something.

"Chuck?" Blair said timidly, taking a few steps closer to him.

He raised his head, looking at her. But it didn't look like he was really looking at her. His eyes were empty, and it seemed like he was looking through her, like he didn't even recognise her.

"Chuck are you okay? What did Diana say to you?" He put his head back in his hands but this time his eyes stayed open, focussing on the point of the room where the floor became wall.

Blair sat down hesitantly next to him, smiling kindly and then in a rush of bravery taking his hand from his face and holding it in both of hers. He looked up abruptly, as if confused, he kept looking at his hand but slowly his gaze travelled up to her face. Blair smiled again at him and he quickly looked away.

Chuck swallowed, "Bart and Diana had an affair." he said, looking straight ahead of him, at the glass wall that separated his bedroom from the main room. "Diana wasn't ready to keep the baby so they decided that they would pass it off as Evelyn's."

Blair felt her heart break as she heard Chuck refer to himself as 'it'. She frowned, still holding onto his hand. "But.. Evelyn didn't carry through with it?" So that Elizabeth Fisher woman had been Chuck's mother in a sense. She had been Bart's wife, but not Chuck's proper mother.

Chuck shook his head, "No. Apparently not. She split up with my father and then changed her name to Elizabeth, disappearing."

And now that Blair thought about it, it all added up. Elizabeth knew things about Chuck and his father that only a mother would know. But then she had also been able to hurt him and walk away from him. Something that a real mother would never be able to do.

Blair squeezed his hand. "What are you going to do now?" she asked him, trying to gain some kind of emotional response from him, he seemed so empty right now. It was putting her on edge.

"I don't know. She told me to come and find her if I wanted to talk." he said, still staring straight ahead through the glass, where the silhouettes of Serena and Nate jumping around laughing could be seen.

"You should talk to her Chuck." Blair urged him gently, looking at him and smiling encouragingly, "You've always wanted a mother, this is your chance."

He turned to face her, and she could see now that his eyes were swimming with tears. He swallowed, "I'm scared." he admitted, and she had never heard Chuck Bass admit something like that before. It took her off guard.

"I don't know why she left. I don't understand."

And as she looked at him, and he looked at her, in that moment she could still see the little seven year old boy. The one who tagged after Nate and Serena, always competing to get in front of Blair, to be the more valued.

And she didn't deny him that. Although at the time she had found it annoying. When she had grown up she had come to realise that there was a reason he was like that. A reason why he needed them, why he craved for someone just to want him. Simply want him. Because he had never had it before in his life.

He had never felt valued. He had never had the unconditional love of a mother, who would always want him, no matter what.

He looked embarrassed, as he looked away from her, taking his hand out of hers and wiping it against his eyes. It left wet smudge marks along his cheekbones. "What happened to your party?"he asked, "I hope you didn't abandon it on my account." he sniffed.

Blair shook her head. "The party was stupid. I don't know what I was thinking."

Chuck smiled slightly, 'It wasn't that bad, I was finding it quite enjoyable until Gossip Girl decided to make her little reveal."

Blair snorted, rolling her eyes, "You're just being polite," she nudged him on the shoulder, grinning.

She sobered, "But Chuck, if you ever want to talk to me. I'm here. I'll always be here. I don't know what I was thinking the other day when I told you those things."

He looked at his hands in front of him, the corners of his mouth turning upwards. "Thanks."

Blair stood up, smoothing her dress of crinkles. "Are you leaving?" he asked, and he looked up at her fretfully.

"I'm not going anywhere." she said. He didn't want her to leave. And she felt an eruption of love for him, that after everything she had done, all the crap she had put him through, he still wanted her to be a part of his life. Still valued her. Eve though she didn't deserve it. Because that was what Chuck did. He didn't hold things against people, or judge them for their past. He valued them the way he had always wanted to be valued.

***NOTE: I'm not exactly sure how much the dowery would be. They never mentioned it on the show so I estimated. Sorry if it sounds totally off the mark!**


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